The BRIT Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trusts Show. The awards were first held in 1977 and originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industry's trade association, the BPI. In 1989, they were renamed The BRIT Awards. Mastercard has been the long-term sponsor of the event. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for classical music, called the Classic BRIT Awards, was held annually between 2000 and 2013, before being revived in 2018 but has not been held since.
Rajinder Singh Rai, better known by his stage name Panjabi MC, is a British-Indian recording artist, rapper, record producer and DJ. He is best known for the worldwide Bhangra 2002 hit "Mundian To Bach Ke", which sold 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Among other songs, he gained acclaim with the 2003 release "Jogi". AllMusic has called him "one of the most prominent names in bhangra".
Jamelia Niela Davis is a British singer, actress and television personality. She has released three studio albums, each of which has reached the Top 40 in the UK, which collectively have spawned eight UK top-ten singles. In addition, Jamelia has won four MOBO Awards, a Q Award and has received nine BRIT Award nominations.
Steven Kapur, known by the stage name Apache Indian, is a British singer-songwriter and reggae DJ. He had a series of hits during the 1990s. He is best known in the UK for the song "Boom Shack-A-Lak", which reached the top ten during August 1993.
Adam Richard Wiles, known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, I Created Disco (2007) was preceded by the singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls", both of which peaked within the top ten of the UK singles chart. His second album, Ready for the Weekend (2009), debuted atop the UK Albums Chart; its lead single, "I'm Not Alone", became his first song to peak the UK Singles Chart.
Burban is a musical sub-culture and an attempt to unify urban musicians of Asian descent. The idea has caused a split amongst the bigger artists and critics due to the ambiguity of the term itself. The common misconception of burban is that it is a musical genre of Asian origin, which is incorrect. Burban is a sub-culture of hip hop/R&B music, focused on artists of Asian background. The reason behind this was to abolish the term "urban desi", which commonly pigeon-holed hip hop artists as 'desi' artists.
John McDaid is a singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer from Northern Ireland. He is a member of the band Snow Patrol and has written songs with artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk, and Robbie Williams.
Paloma Faith Blomfield is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. After signing with Epic Records in 2008, Faith released her debut studio album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? (2009), which produced the UK top-twenty singles "Stone Cold Sober" and "New York", and earned Faith her first BRIT Award nomination in 2010. Her second studio album, Fall to Grace (2012), charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, earned her two Brit Award nominations, and spawned her first UK top-ten single, "Picking Up the Pieces" and the top-twenty cover version of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart".
Imran Khan is a Dutch-Pakistani singer, rapper and songwriter. He performs songs in both English and Punjabi. He first became known in 2007 after the release of his first single "Ni Nachleh", and was signed to Prestige Records later that year. His second single, "Amplifier", was released in 2009. His debut studio album, Unforgettable, was released on 27 July 2009 via Prestige Records. His song "Satisfya", released in 2013, is his most-viewed YouTube video with over 930 million views.
The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx, and formerly Baria Qureshi. They are known for their distinctive minimalist sound blending indie rock, indie electronic, indie pop, dream pop and electro-rock and the dual-vocalist set-up of Madley Croft and Sim. Their music employs soft echoed guitar, prominent bass, light electronic beats and ambient soundscape backgrounds.
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, better known by his stage name Tinie, is a British rapper and singer. He has been signed to Parlophone since 2009, now a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment company Disturbing London in 2006, along with his cousin Dumi Oburota.
Sarah Joyce, better known by her stage name, Rumer, is a British singer-songwriter. Supported by leading music industry figures including Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Carly Simon, and Jools Holland, Rumer was nominated for two Brit awards on 13 January 2011.
Jessica Ellen Cornish, known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical Whistle Down the Wind. She studied at the BRIT School before signing with Gut Records and striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Maya Jane Coles is a British music producer, audio engineer and DJ, born in London. Under her real name, she mostly composes and plays house and techno music, while her alias Nocturnal Sunshine creates darker, more bass-driven productions with a heavy hip-hop and dub influence. She was previously part of an electronic dub duo called She Is Danger with Lena Cullen.
Shahid Khan, known professionally as Naughty Boy, is an English DJ, record producer, music programmer and songwriter. In 2012, Khan signed a three-year publishing deal with Sony ATV, as well as a recording contract with Virgin EMI Records to release his debut studio album, Hotel Cabana (2013). The album was supported by the singles "Wonder", "Lifted", and "La La La" ; the latter peaked atop the UK singles chart while the album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart.
Rebecca Claire Hill is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame after appearing on the first series of The Voice UK, auditioning with John Legend's "Ordinary People". She joined Jessie J's team and reached the semi-final of the competition.
James Michael Bay is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. In 2014, he released his single "Hold Back the River", which was certified platinum, before releasing his debut studio album Chaos and the Calm (2015). The album went to number one in the UK and number 15 in the US. In February 2015, Bay received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award. At the 2016 Brit Awards he received the award for Best British Male Solo Artist. Bay also received three nominations at the 2016 Grammy Awards, for Best New Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Rock Song. In May 2018, he released his second studio album, Electric Light.
Raxstar is a British rapper and singer from Luton. Raxstar came into popularity after the release of "Keep It Undercover" in 2005. Following up with tracks like "Jaaneman", "Ego", "Poison" and "Balwant", he gained more mainstream attention, and has become one of the most popular artists in Desi hip hop.
The Brit Asia TV Music Awards, also known as Brit Asia TV World Music Awards or the abbreviation BAMA, is an awards show that has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 2010, usually in October. The awards show is produced by Brit Asia TV. Award winners are decided by public voting on a website from a list of nominees presented by the event organizers at a nomination party. Website desiblitz called it "UK's largest celebration of South Asian music" and "the biggest awards in the British Asian Music calendar".
